Definition

1. Noun:

   • The importance, worth, or usefulness of something: The quality that makes something desirable, useful, or important.
   • A person's principles or standards of behavior; one's judgment of what is important in life: Often used in the plural form "values".
   • The monetary worth of something; the amount of money something could be sold for: The price or cost of an item or service.
   • (In art) The relative lightness or darkness of a color.
   • (In music) The relative duration of a musical note.

2. Verb:

   • To consider something to be important or beneficial; to hold in high regard: To think that someone or something is worth a lot.
   • To estimate the monetary worth of something: To decide how much money something is worth.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • The value of this painting lies in its historical significance, not its price.
  • Honesty and kindness are core values in their family.
  • The market value of the house has increased.
  • The artist skillfully used light and dark values to create depth.

• Verb:

  • I value your friendship more than anything.
  • The estate agent will value the property next week.

Advanced Usage

• "To be of value": to be useful or important.
  • This old manual is still of great value to collectors.
• "To get good value for money": to receive something worth the amount you paid.
  • This restaurant offers excellent food; you really get good value for your money.
• "Face value": the apparent worth or meaning of something, taken at first glance without questioning it.
  • You shouldn't take his promises at face value.

Variants and Related Words

• Valuable (adj): worth a lot of money or extremely useful or important.
  • She gave me some valuable advice.
• Valuation (n): an estimation of something's worth.
  • The bank required a professional valuation of the business.
• Valued (adj): considered to be important or beneficial; cherished.
  • She is a valued member of the team.

Synonyms

• Noun: Worth, importance, merit, cost, price, principle.
• Verb: Appreciate, cherish, esteem, assess, appraise, rate.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Value something as: To consider something to have a particular quality or status.
  • This land is valued as a protected wildlife area.
• Value something at: To state that something has a particular monetary worth.
  • The painting was valued at over a million dollars.

Related Idioms

• Take something at face value: to accept something as it appears to be without looking for a hidden meaning.
  • He said he was busy, and I took that at face value.
• Surplus value: (in economics) the difference between the amount raised through the sale of a product and the cost of producing it.
• Value judgment: an assessment of something as good or bad based on one's own standards or opinions.
  • Calling his art "childish" is a subjective value judgment.

Noun

1. an ideal accepted by some individual or group
   • he has old-fashioned values
2. (music) the relative duration of a musical note
3. relative darkness or lightness of a color
   • I establish the colors and principal values by organizing the painting into three values--dark, medium...and light-Joe Hing Lowe
4. the amount (of money or goods or services) that is considered to be a fair equivalent for something else
   • he tried to estimate the value of the produce at normal prices
5. the quality (positive or negative) that renders something desirable or valuable
   • the Shakespearean Shylock is of dubious value in the modern world
6. a numerical quantity measured or assigned or computed
   • the value assigned was 16 milliseconds

Verb

1. estimate the value of
   • How would you rate his chances to become President?
   • Gold was rated highly among the Romans
2. evaluate or estimate the nature, quality, ability, extent, or significance of
   • I will have the family jewels appraised by a professional
   • access all the factors when taking a risk
3. regard highly; think much of
   • I respect his judgement
   • We prize his creativity
4. hold dear
   • I prize these old photographs
5. fix or determine the value of; assign a value to
   • value the jewelry and art work in the estate